Monday, September 12, 2016

Traditions and Transfers

Hey there people!!

It was a crazy week!! A very crazy week in deed!

So, this week was super cool. I about killed my comp though!! haha! So to start out... on Monday we made tacos and milkshakes as a zone. It was super fun! Elder Schully and I (he's my zone leader) we played pingpong for like 2 hours, and I got the feel back for it. That was about it for Monday.

Then Tuesday we had a great time. We went to Eloisa's house and we had a super cool lesson. She really is such a great lady, and she accepted to be baptised but she did not set a date. Then we went and found some other way cool new investigators! They are so great, and I was so excited to work with them. One's name is Donié and he was and orphan his whole life, from the time he was a baby. Then he decided to escape the orphanage and go to college, and now he has his own little room and is studying to be a doctor. He's such a cool guy!

On Thursday I hit ONE YEAR away from home and away from my house, my family and my friends! And one year in the mission!! We went over to the Zone Leader's house and we made a fire, then I burned my shirt, (a "one year in the mission" tradition) and we made some smores. It was so much fun!!! We got to spend the night with Elder Carrasco right before he went home. So we celebrated him finishing his mission! So many thing to celebrate this past week! It really was such a great time with mission friends and investigators! Also that night that I hit a year we all slept on top of the Zone Leader's roof for fun, and ooooohh was it cold!! I am serious... that is colder than I have been in years!!

Elder Bartchi (my room mate in Tingo Maria, not my comp but an Elder who I lived with) and Elder Carrasco left on Saturday morning. Elder Bartchi left me the best gift I have received in years. THE GOON MASTER!! So, the Goon Master is a foam roller. Like one of the rollers that you use for your back or that you sit on to roll your muscles out. Well, it is a super long story about the Goon Master so maybe in a year when I get home I'll tell it, or maybe next week. But it is seriously, super sad now. The mission is headed down hill, all of my buds are going home this week, like literally, I don't have one near me. And everyone who had more time in the mission, and that I look up to has gone home.

Saturday we also got a call about some new rules that were put into effect this week. The new rule is that "the changes are going to now be on Monday." So that means on change day I most likely won't be emailing until like 4:00, 5:00, or 6:00, unless I stay with my current comp and don't change areas. Well, I got changed for the next 6 weeks. I went from Huanuco to Huancayo. I am now in the area Chilca. I just got here about an hour ago (4:00 Peru time). It was a 6 hour drive that was awful! There are so many turns, and the road is bad, and the drivers are all crazy, and this crazy driver I was with was going like 130 km (about 80 mph) the whole time. It really was sad to leave the people and the other missionaries, but I am finally out of the Huanuco region. I've really spent my first year in that region! It was great, and I did love it!

Beautiful Huancayo

I just want to add that I have been studying doctine from the Book of Mormon and my testimony is growing so much. It's the greatest book! I am happy, and when I'm struggling, I just always think about and remember 1 Nephi 3:7, it's why I'm here. "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." I love you all.

Elder Christensen

A visit to Gelhin and her son Mathius

(Luke and his Comp taught Gelhin and she was baptized a few month ago in Puerto Puelles)